How do you express gratitude? How do you respond in times of loss? Do you actively seek out opportunities to be a blessing? Your heart will smile to hear this story of gratitude, loss & blessing.

This story began on February 5, 2013 when Rossana Carrasco, a kids yoga teacher in Mexico City, won the giveaway for Jeeva Finds Courage (Read and Learn Yoga book)and took the time not only to express “thanks” via e-mail but also to post a pic several weeks later of her young yogis enjoying the book and a word of “thanks” on the OMazing Kids Facebook page (a very rare instance of someone taking the time to do so). She also shared pics on the company’s Facebook page. Rossana planted “seeds of gratitude”.

When she entered the Nurture Cards – affirmation cards for children giveaway on March 30, 2013, I found out that the Jeeva Finds Courage book she had won along with all of her other kids yoga materials had been stolen. Her entry comment:

“Hello again, I´m Rossana Carrasco, from Mexico City. I´m always looking for new material for my Little Yogis and I´m obsessed with affirmations, especially when they include these two words: I AM… I am so convinced that what follows those two words is what you become… And I want to empower my kids, I want the best for them. I would use the cards with them. I´ve got around 50 students from the ages 3 to 12 at Lancaster School in Mexico City, some of them are special kids with special needs and I love working with them. In the other hand, I was blessed by winning the Jeeva finds courage book, which I loved and my kids did too. A few days ago someone took from my car trunk all my yoga material: my card decks, Jeeva book, teachers´manual, toys, etc. All the things that I´ve been acquiring for the last 3 years… I have to start over again. I´ve been a little sad because of this and Nurture Cards would really be great to restore my optimism. In fact, they just did.” Rossana had experienced loss.

Of course that was one of the winning entries and the story could have ended there. But I knew that Rossana would need more than that to continue her work with the kids. Her situation touched me so much because she had taken the time to show gratitude & works with kids with special needs. I was inspired to reach out to the kids yoga community on Rossana’s behalf at least in part by the message in the book “Good People Everywhere”. While I don’t personally have any of my own kids yoga or wellness products to donate to Rossana, I knew that I could do something to help her by using my time & the connections that I have formed with those who did.

So I reached out to all the folks I know in the kids yoga community who have products and shared Rossana’s story with them. I was hoping for just a few extra things to get Rossana started on the path of rebuilding her collection of kids yoga materials. What happened next surprised & filled me with great joy! (well actually it shouldn’t have surprised me since I had “planted seeds” too. Over the past 2 years I had connected with these folks in the kids yoga community through “liking” and sharing things from their Facebook fan pages, retweeting, repinning, doing reviews/giveaways for their products, etc….)

What started as a few sprinkles became showers of blessingsof offers to send products to Rossana. Here are the blessings heading her way:

Update 6/4/13: Creative Yoga Games for Kids Volume 1 & Volume 2 (when it’s released this summer), Creative Yoga for Teenagers Book & From Yoga to Dance DVD (Edna Reinhardt – Over the Moon Studio in Australia. Edna has a fabulous FB Group that you should check out: https://www.facebook.com/groups/293881080695013/)

I encourage each of you to take the time to check out and “like” each company’s Facebook page (links in blue). While you’re there, go a little further by liking, commenting on and sharing something they have posted on their page. I know it encourages me when folks do that on my page so I’m sure they would appreciate that as well. Each FB page will have a link to their website in the “About” section. Go check out the products they offer. I have listed the person’s name so you can put a name with each page. I think sometimes we forget that there is a real person behind each company or page. A real person that has sown much energy into the work they do & have sown their own “seeds”. Many of them expressed being grateful for the opportunity to participate in this blessing project. So when you visit their page, please keep that in mind. They are part of the kids yoga “community”. When visiting a page, treat it like visiting a friend’s house.

So the story could end there….a nice happy ending. But I want to challenge each of us to see what we can learn from this. In the past 2 years I have hosted 50 giveaways and had become very discouraged at the lack of gratitude in folks who have won. This is concerning since an “attitude of gratitude” or “thankfulness” is often a theme included in kids yoga classes…. so one would think the adults would be leading by example. Our high-tech digital age makes it so easy to communicate & express thanks but it seems to be having a reverse effect. The other thing that has bugged me lately is when someone has “liked” something I have posted and then a few moments or hours later it shows up in a post on their FB page or blog with no mention of seeing it on OMazing Kids. I think that bugs me so much because I go out of my way to find, “like”, share & promote other pages & blogs and go to great lengths to give credit. I know this has happened to others as well. This is again particularly concerning from folks who are teaching kids.

I’m not claiming to be perfect but I am always striving to be better every day. About 10 years ago my husband & I went through a very dark period with the loss of a pregnancy. After a long period of grief, infertility treatments, depression & weight gain, I had to come to the place to choose to be happy for the many blessings I “do” have in my life vs. being consumed with focusing on what I did “not” have. From that day forward I have made a conscious choice each day to express gratitude & to seek out how I could be a blessing to others. It is not just something I “do”…. it has become who I “am”.

I am hoping that my blog post about Rosanna’s story & these kids yoga companies’ generosity will inspire folks. I am looking forward to hearing how Rossana’s young yogis enjoy the new materials & seeing pics of them. Every time Rossana uses each item that has been donated it will have a special memory & story attached to it. I’m sure she will relay the story about her loss & then a great outpouring of blessings from folks all over the world. Imagine the seeds this will sow in these young children! I’m sure someone sowed a seed in Rossana’s life that planted this deep expression of gratitude in her.

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. ~ Ezekiel 34:26

P.S. I attempted to be as inclusive as possible in reaching out to the kids yoga community when seeking donations for Rossana. Guess what….. this does not have to be the end of the showers of blessings. If you have a product that you would like to donate, you can reach me by e-mail. I’d be happy to update this blog post with any future blessings :)

Angela Moorad, MS, CCC-SLP, IAYT, RCYP-2

Speech-Language Pathologist at the JD McCarty Center for Children with Developmental Disabilities (http://www.jdmc.org/)

OMazing Kids LLC is an organization that promotes inclusive wellness activities for kids of all abilities. The blog and social media pages share information about books, DVD’s, CD’s, games and other products specifically designed for kids wellness, mindfulness and relaxation, product reviews & giveaways, lesson plan & activity ideas, research, kids wellness in the news and a connection corner with listings of individuals doing adapted yoga and those offering trainings.

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